ARTICLES ABOUT VETERANS DAY BY DATE - PAGE 2

Gov. Pat Quinn flew around the state Monday to talk up the latest Illinois Lottery ticket benefiting veterans, a move he said was intended to honor those who serve but one that also illustrates the benefits of incumbency as he runs for re-election. The Democratic governor began the day at a veterans home in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood and traveled downstate for stops in Peoria, Milan near the Quad Cities and Rockford. While the focus was pitching the scratch-off tickets, the taxpayer-funded events also get Quinn in front of the cameras and voters just days after he named former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas as his running mate.

As Naperville residents paused Monday to honor local veterans, they received a reminder of the need to support those returning from war and not to take their freedom for granted. "Truly as we stand here today there are thousands of Americans gathering all over this great nation just as we are to remember and honor and pay tribute to those that have fought and continue to fight," said Nina Petru, commander of Judd Kendall VFW Post 3873. "And most importantly to those that gave the ultimate sacrifice and to their families for the scars they will forever carry.

(Reuters) - The United States marked Veterans Day on Monday with ceremonies across the nation, from small-town parades honoring those who served in the armed forces to the president marking the day at Arlington National Cemetery. President Barack Obama laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns in a ceremony in which he called veterans "those who fought for our freedom and stood sentry for our security. " "On this hillside of solemn remembrance, in veterans' halls and in proud parades across America, we join as one people to honor a debt we can never fully repay," Obama said.

By Lauren Zumbach and Lolly Bowean and Tribune reporters | November 11, 2013

Steven Arnold normally skips formal Veterans Day ceremonies, preferring to stay out of the spotlight. But the Chicagoan, who served as a Marine in Japan in the early 1980s and has a son who recently returned from a tour in Afghanistan, said he was glad to be at the Soldier Field tribute Monday. "It's something everyone should do, at least once in their life," he said. About 300 veterans and their families attended the ceremony, held in front of the stadium's statue of a World War I infantryman, the doughboy.

A vet's adventures Recently, a man with a Vietnam vet cap and prosthetic leg sat on the cement walkway of a suburban bus terminal. Children were leaning in toward him to catch his jokes and wisecracks. Mothers and fathers hovered nearby with smiles on their faces. His false leg was actually a metal pole extending from his knee into his heavy boot. The children didn't seem to notice his leg, nor his grizzled face and poor clothes. Rather, they were captivated by his winsome eyes and the crazy adventures he was sharing while twisting colorful balloons into animal shapes.

Officials evacuated the Harper College gym building today after a note found in the men's locker room indicated a bomb would detonate, school officials said. The Palatine building was cleared by the Cook County bomb squad hours later, said Kim Pohl, Harper College spokeswoman. "The Cook County sheriff's department bomb squad came out. A dog and handlers did a thorough sweep of Building M and they didn't find anything suspicious," she said. "Every institution deals with this once in a while.

Veteran's Day will be celebrated Monday, and it has always been a special holiday for Mike and Nancy Carder. Each has family connections to the military. Her brother was a Marine; her father was in the National Guard. His dad was a World War II pilot, flying C-47s; his maternal grandfather was a medic in World War I; and an uncle was an infantry officer in World War II. "We had many members of our family in the military," Mike says. "Sort of second nature. " So when it was time to make career decisions, the military seemed like a reasonable option for each of them.

Mark Doyle is passionate about helping veterans. After spending a year in Afghanistan as part of an anti-corruption task force, Doyle came home to Chicago and decided to create a business that hires homeless and/or struggling veterans. "I started working with a shelter, A Safe Haven, in Chicago, and noticed there were 300 veterans living in a homeless shelter," he said. "These people come back from serving and many of them have lost everything. " In September 2012 Doyle launched Rags of Honor, a company in the West Loop run by veterans that creates custom T-shirts.